Fall of a Dark Lord
by Rawkysand
Summary: Braya confronts her oldest friend in their final battle abroad the magnificent Star Forge. One-shot.


Fall of a Dark Lord

Rawkysand

In the immensity darkness of space, the Star Forge was shimmering brightly and occasional flashes of red and purple light could be seen faintly from within, if one were close enough.

A tall man, clad in crimson red, fought and swung his single, short-hilted red lightsaber as if it was a weighty sword. Never had he fought someone this powerful and strong in the Force. Instead of a neck, he had a highly technological device that created his unique voice of man and machine. Even his astonishingly large size did not work to his advantage in this gruelling conflict.

His enemy, a slender and beautiful woman, was dressed in a brightly hooded creamy robe, a stark contraction to her foe's dark clothing. A vast amount of the Force was radiating from this woman. She wielded a violet double-bladed lightsaber, her hilt almost identical to those of her secret lover's. Perhaps she have chosen a violet crystal for her weapon as it was one letter missing from the word 'violent', since her past was brutal and disturbing, and also she was deeply scarred by her shadowy past.

"You cannot beat me! I am the Dark Lord of the Sith!"

Malak grunted aloud and swung his lightsaber forcefully against Braya, or more commonly known as Revan, a former Dark Lady of the Sith. He looked around and saw that there was no more of the dead Jedi for him to draw the Force from since Revan has destroyed most of the machines. Always a strategist, Malak thought. After all, Revan had managed to lead the Republic to countless victories where almost all hope had faded.

Malak staggered for a while, some of his flesh torn out. Revan was wounded also. Malak was glad to see the former Dark Lady struggle, as he thought that she could be invincible, immortal perhaps.

"No Malak, somehow the Light Side always prevails."

Malak sniggered. "You really think so, Jedi?"

"Think so? No, I know so. And the darkness within the light will always re-emerge. Without darkness, what is light?" The much-undeserved Sith Master sniggered once again and continued to attack Revan.

"Don't waste your breath any further by spewing philosophical crap!" Malak replied aggressively. Revan sighed, counteracting Malak's clumsy strikes with ease. When one was immersed in anger, they tend to think irrationally and create flaws in their attacks and defences. This, Revan believed, will lead Malak to his – no, all Sith to their downfall.

Revan hesitated to strike down her former best friend. She did not like killing people, even though if that certain person is a Sith Master. Revan was trying to recall something Bastila once told her. "The Jedi do not believe in execution, no matter the crime." Or something like that, her mind cannot seem to recall the exact words right now.

Malak's ember of life withered down, attacking with a grace of a battered gikza. Revan seemed to radiant a never-ending source of power, which sincerely scared the Jedi as much as it did to Malak. Her appearance said otherwise – her creamy robe heavily stained with blood, crimson sweat dripped down her forehead. Malak realised that the reason he haven't fallen by now was the fact that Revan was reluctant to strike the mechanical Sith Lord down.

Malak struggled to think back to the past, the time when Revan was a ruthless, vigorous Dark Lady of the Sith. She was everything that he was not – strategic, calculated, cunning, daring, commanding and installed fear like no other Lords of the past.

The faltered Sith Master unconsciously gasped; Revan has finally plucked the courage to strike down her former friend. She brusquely took out the lightsaber out of Malak's already wounded stomach.

Revan was also a Jedi like no other. While most Jedi would have struck down any Sith Master with no qualms, she didn't. Revan was possibly one of the most humane Jedi ever. She believed the true battle occurs within the mind, the soul. The Mandalorian War, the war between Exar Kun and the Jedi, the arguments between mother and daughter, the war with famine is merely a prologue of the major battle of the inner demons. War can shape the person. The Mandalorian War had greatly twisted Revan and Malak. Or perhaps it was the power of the Star Forge.

"Im…Impossible. I… I am… the Dark Lord of the Sith!" Malak fell to his bloodied knee and grunted in pain.

"No, Malak. The Light is always stronger. Somehow, somehow the Light triumphs even in the darkest hour of the universe. But the Jedi Code is not always right. We _are _humans."

Watery blood was dripping from his head, which made its way to the tainted floor of the Star Forge, a rather gigantic tool of the dark side.

"I see. I… I have always wondered what would happened if our role was reversed? Would I still walk the path of the Dark Side like now, or would I have been strong enough to walk in the path of the Light? You were always a more powerful Dark Lord than I could ever be, thus a stronger Jedi I can ever be…"

Malak remembered how he claimed the title as a Lord of the Sith. It was a cowardly act, as he has shot Revan's ship from afar, rendering Revan useless at the time… until Bastila played God and brought her back into the world of living. That wretched bitch! Always full of herself, that Jedi princess! He cursed her even more when she turned her back on him during the time Bastila was Malak's apprentice. Still, he should have seen it coming… No wonder why he easily fell to the lure of the Dark Side, with all that hatred burning inside Malak's heart.

The former Dark Lady simply shook her head. "I was never a better Jedi than you. You had your own way. I'm sorry."

"Another thing I have also pondered on… have you ever been tempted to fall to the Dark Side as _Braya_?"

Revan glanced at Malak sadly. "Of course. The threat of the dark side is always present, no matter how small it is. If I could fall to the Dark Side once as Revan then I can do so again, my dear brother. Like I said, we are humans. Jedi, Sith – whatever – are merely labels. Everyone seems to forget we are human, not some machines wielding lightsabers."

"Indeed… What did you mean by the fact that the Jedi Code is not always right?" Malak managed to summon up enough energy to speak in a sparse mechanical voice.

"Denying a Jedi one's emotions is bound to lead them to the path of the Dark Side. Once they get very angry, they tend not to know how to calm themselves down. And usually they wonder what it feels like to express their feelings, leading to darker thoughts and actions - the obvious example being us. And some of the time, emotions does return one away from the path of tyranny, just like with… with Bastila… Our love brought me back."

Malak nodded gently, and spoke his final words, "I knew it!" Revan grinned and bended down to Malak's level and whispered something in his ear.

The giant Jedi almost seemed to give out a mechanical smile and fell down to let the darkness consume what is left of the battered Dark Lord.


End file.
